INSECT ECONOMY and MARKETING: How Much and in What Way Could Insects Be Shown in Packaging?
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INSECT ECONOMY AND MARKETING: How much and in what way could insects be shown in packaging? SAARA-MARIA KAUPPI Master's Thesis Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Department of Design Creative Sustainability 2016 INSECT ECONOMY AND MARKETING: How much and in what way could insects be shown in packaging? SAARA-MARIA KAUPPI Master's Thesis Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Department of Design Creative Sustainability 2016 2 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ith this thesis process, I had an amazing opportunity to engage myself with a topic that is rather new in Finland and has the full potential to be helpful for the whole insect industry. In the beginning of the year 2016, I moved from Helsinki to Seinäjoki to concentrate on this thesis. I was lucky to be part of a group of students from Helsinki University in Seinäjoki, who were also working with edible insects and starting Wtheir own business. We lived together, grew edible insects in our kitchen and discussed about insects every day. This made it easier for me to understand insects and think about them as part of our food chain. I am grateful to University Consortium of Seinäjoki for study facilities and encouragement that helped me along the way. When planning this research, the outcome of this thesis was not in sight. One of the major struggles in this thesis process was to trust in the process itself. Working with students and their lecturer at Lahti Institute of Design made the outcome even more interesting. I was very pleased about the results and the attitude students showed during this process. They were enthusiastic to be part of this research and introduced their packaging mock-ups with pride. As well as contributing to this research, they gained important material for their portfolios. I was also happily surprised that this topic gained media attention from YLE and Ilkka. Edible insects interest people despite the fact they are still perceived as strange. People are aware of their ecological benefits and have expressed interest in tasting them. All kinds of media coverage is good for the public discussion, and when the idea is planted in the heads of many, entomophagy will spread and gain a new audience, and possibly become mainstream in the future. 4 5 ABSTRACT griculture, especially meat production, has a significant impact on the environment. In the future, the challenges are the growing population and its sustainable food production. In 2013, United Nations’ Agriculture and Food Organisation published a report that suggests entomophagy – the eating of insects – has the potential to become one of the most sustainable protein sources in the future. Currently, approximately two billion people eat insects as part of their daily diet, but Afor us Westeners, insect eating feels unusual. However, the existing trend of healthy diet in the West can facilitate the adoption of insect products. Insect products are already available in foreign markets and when the EU legal restrictions are removed, the markets will open in Fin-land. The aim of this study is to find ways to market insect products to Western – especially Finnish – consumers, through packaging design. This study is based on a literature analysis and packaging test for consumer behaviour. The literature analysis explains the reasons for entomophagy, origins of disgust reactions, as well as the basis for packaging design and consumer behaviour. The literature indicates that Western consumers most likely adopt insect eating if the insects are served in a processed form, such as powder, or used as an additional ingredient in familiar foods. Currently, one of the most popular in-sect products is a protein bar. Therefore, its packaging was selected as the test product. The question of whether images of insects should be shown in packaging is answered in this thesis. The results of the consumer behaviour test indicate that impressions on insect products vary between consumers, for example, women and men scored differently. Graphic design elements such colour and typography had an impact on respondents’ selections and in some cases colour had an even bigger role than the insect. It is important for the future research to recognise that insects as food ingredients can be illustrated in multiple ways. The results of this study show that abstract representations of insects generally cause less repulsion than realistic images. The packaging test has been made in collaboration with second-year INSECT ECONOMY AND MARKETING: packaging and branding students at Lahti Institute of Design. The findings How much and in what way could of this study can have strategic relevance for brand managers targeting insects be shown in packaging? prospective consumers. This thesis is also useful for packaging designers who design new insect product packaging for Western and especially Finnish Master's thesis by markets. SAARA-MARIA KAUPPI Aalto University Keywords: packaging design, entomophagy, edible insects, sustainability, Helsinki, 2016 consumer behaviour Copyright Saara-Maria Kauppi 6 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT 1. INTRODUCTION 10 5. CASE STUDY: INSECT PROTEIN BAR PACKAGE TEST 44 1.1. Why eat insects? 12 5.1. The design problem 46 1.2. Objectives and research question 17 5.2. Briefing 47 1.3. Methodologies 17 5.3. Selection criteria of the packages 48 5.4. Survey 48 2. WHY NOT EAT INSECTS? 18 5.5. Hypothesis 48 5.6. Package testing 49 2.1. Western perception on insects 20 2.2. Emotion called disgust 20 6. RESULTS 52 2.2.1. What triggers disgust 20 2.2.2. Disgust and cultures 21 6.1. Quantitative data 54 2.2.3. Emotion versus sense 21 6.2. Respondents’ comments 54 6.3. Test results 66 3. DIFFUSION OF ENTOMOPHAGY 24 6.4. Evaluation of the research question 69 6.5. Final thoughts 73 3.1. Diffusion of innovations theory 26 3.2. Diffusion of insects 27 3.3. Case: How sushi went global 32 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 76 8. APPENDIX 82 4. PACKAGING DESIGN AND EDIBLE INSECTS 34 4.1. Packaging in supermarket environment 37 4.2. Packaging design key elements 38 4.3. Packaging and emotions 40 4.4. Consumer behaviour research 40 4.5. Packaging design and research challenges 41 8 9 1INTRODUCTION 10 11 1.1. WHY EAT INSECTS? WHAT IS ENTOMOPHAGY? he global population is growing rapidly. According to Entomophagy – insect eating – has been practised since Palaeolithic times, and FAO, the population will reach over 9 billion by 2050. The today one out of four people worldwide eat insects; the only exception is the big question in the near future is food security, how to feed Western countries. Some studies show that the attitude towards insects changed the growing population and provide enough food for all. after the rise of agriculture in the West and entomophagy started to decline. FAO has suggested insects as one solution to the global Insects were no longer seen as part of daily nutrition but more like pests that food crisis. There are many advantages to insects as a one needs to get rid of. At the moment, entomophagy is still practised in many protein source, such as their high feed-to-meat conversion countries around the world, predominantly in parts of Asia, Africa, Australia rate and their low water consumption. The only thing that and Latin America. It is part of various cultural cuisines and supplements the prevents people eating insects around the world today is our Western perception daily diets of two billion people. (van Huis et al., 2013) Tof insects being unsuitable for food. (van Huis et al., 2013) Currently insects play a role as novelty food in Western countries. Insect eating has captured media attention and there is an emerging trend of insect tasting, luxury brands adding extra flavours of insects to their products and small businesses emerging making, for example, insect protein bars and insect flour. Entomophagy is slowly becoming normalised also in the West as people travel more, are more open to new experiences and therefore want to try out new sorts of food. Image 1 SCARCITY OF AGRICULTURAL LAND AND GROWING POPULATION In the year 2050, the global population is predicted to be 9 billion. Having 2 billion more mouths to feed than now creates massive challenges in food production. According to FAO, agriculture is currently using 70% of cultivated land, but it is estimated that using that alone would not be enough to feed the whole population. In order to feed the whole population, the amount of agricultural land has to be doubled. New ideas for global food security need to be taken seriously. Yet there is not much more land that could be used, without utilising the rest of the natural rainforests, natural forests and recreational land. Cutting down forests for food is highly questionable since it is a great Image 1. East-West dichotom. East described as blue and includes the countries that practise risk for global biodiversity, and for example, rainforests have a great ability to insect eating. West is illustrated as red, where insect eating is not widely spread activity. absorb carbon, helping to mitigate climate change (WWF 2008). This means that there is a need to look at the challenges from a new perspective in order to find innovative solutions for food security. (van Huis et al., 2013) The other problem in population growth is growing middleclass. FAO’s studies show that usually when people get wealthier they would like to include more meat to their diets (van Huis 2013). Research reveals that meat consumption per capita would rise from 41kg to 52kg by 2050, and from 30kg to 44 kg in developing countries (FAO 2009). The future of global agriculture looks alarming if these projections are accurate.